


To Show You The Glory Due To You

by Manetherendrelle (EndlessGloaming)



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Book 07: A Crown of Swords, Canon Compliant, Even in a dream Rand can't be cruel to a woman, Gen, Missing Scene, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27447274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessGloaming/pseuds/Manetherendrelle
Summary: After Dumai's Wells, while Rand shuts himself away and sulks, he notes that he dreamed of going to the White Tower, kidnapping Elaida, and getting revenge. This is that dream.
Kudos: 9





	To Show You The Glory Due To You

Rand knew exactly what he needed to do and how he would do it.

First, he went into that deserted mirror world, the one that might be Egwene's World of Dreams, and explored the White Tower. He needed to figure out where to find Elaida without encountering a large number of sisters at once. By luck, he'd overheard Egwene and the other Dreamwalkers mention that Elaida had a large painting of Rand fighting Ishamael in the sky over Falme in her study, and that the painting had a tear right on Rand's face. A study sounded like a place a woman might spend a lot of time with few or no visitors.

Still, it took a lot of searching. The White Tower was large. Identifying the Hall of the Tower was relatively easy, or at least, he figured it must be the Hall of the Tower. It took hours of searching rooms outward from there, favoring the grander looking corridors, but he did eventually find the picture in a room that screamed ancient power and wealth. Fitting.

How many should he take with him on such an expedition? At worst, if the room were packed with Aes Sedai, it might hold dozens of them. More wouldn't fit in the room and couldn't see to channel. And they would all be weaker than Egwene or Elayne. Still, he'd rather be over-prepared.

He settled on an even twenty. He hated going to the Black Tower, but Taim and his men had come to rescue Rand. He shouldn't go so long without visiting anyway.

Upon hearing Rand's plan, Taim's eyes lit. He must hate Elaida too, even aside from her kidnapping of Rand. "My Lord Dragon, it would be my pleasure to accompany you on this mission. I will choose out my finest."

Rand ground his teeth. "No killing or stilling, not if you can help it. The point of this isn't revenge." At least, not the only point, and he certainly wasn't going to admit that part, even if people could easily guess on their own. "Elaida is a danger to the world's preparations for Tarmon Gai'don. I can't have the White Tower threaten me the way they have under Elaida, and besides, since the Tower split over Elaida's ascension to the Amyrlin Seat, perhaps their reunification can go more smoothly if she's simply removed." There. Those sounded like good reasons. They might even _be_ good reasons.

"As you say, my Lord Dragon." Taim's habitual half smile still carried an extra fire.

"Have the men you pick out back here and ready to go in an hour. Don't tell them where we're going, just that they need to be ready to fight."

An hour later, the _Asha'man_ assembled in front of him. He went over the objectives and restrictions again, emphasizing that the only goal was to take Elaida; others were only to be taken if it seemed that taking a few might keep the Tower from knowing who had taken Elaida. He really didn't want a bunch of Aes Sedai captives to deal with; he already didn't know what to do with the ones he had.

Then there was the plan, such as it was. A couple of the _Asha'man_ were to shield the doors and windows with Air, no matter what they found. If the room was full, they would shield and bind all the women in the room and tie off the weaves, though not so tightly they'd take more than a few hours to unravel. That got looks of confusion, so he demonstrated loose ties and tight. Oddly, this display garnered him many looks of respect. Rand supposed it did require a certain degree of finesse.

If Elaida was in her study, the mission was simple; they bound her and brought her back. If she was not, he wasn't sure where to search, and the mission became more risky. In that case, they could open a Skimming gateway in case they needed to retreat quickly, and shielding and binding as they went, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. It might take multiple attempts of going to Elaida's study at different times.

With a deep breath, Rand asked if they were ready. He got nods all around. Taim's smile actually reached his eyes. Lews Therin only muttered quietly about killing him; even he was more interested in getting Elaida.

Rand made a single large gateway, flat against the wall of Elaida's study behind her chair to minimize the chance of slicing anyone.

There was only one women in the room. Rand had seen her in the throne room it Caemlyn in what seemed another lifetime. Elaida sprang from her chair, the anger on her face already melting into shock and horror.

She struck out with the Power immediately, shouting and trying to shield the men, but it was no good; there were far too many for even an accomplished Red sister, and Rand and the _Asha'man_ entered full of _saidin._ Rand went at Elaida immediately, shielding her even as her own shield bounced off his connection to the Source. Narishma and some of the others had already done their parts putting various kinds of shielding around the room and against the door. Taim looked at Elaida as a wolf might look at a wounded deer.

Rand reached out his hand as if to seize Elaida in a fist, and did seize her with a great fist of air. This was the woman who'd ordered him kidnapped and beaten. All he had to do was squeeze.

No. Not even her. Not that, at least. But something else.

"Where are you taking me!? You can't do this! I am the Amyrlin Seat!"

He almost wanted her to scream, to holler out her futile complaints, but he did gag her with air. Noises were already sounding outside and women were channeling nearby. That was a quicker response than Rand had expected, but he already had what he wanted. It was time to go.

" _Asha'man_! Back through the gateway!"

They'd barely all managed to enter the study, but they reversed quickly enough, the last who'd entered leading the way out. Rand dragged Elaida along with him, a few paces behind and barely above the ground. There was a crash on the door outside, a great force smashing but failing to get in. It had only taken a few seconds since he called out his orders, but the other men were through. Rand whipped Elaida in front of him and shoved her through. Leaping through himself, he released the gateway. They were out. And no one in the Tower would be sure who had taken the Amyrlin. They might guess, especially if they could tell that _saidin_ had been used, but they wouldn't know.

Rand turned to Elaida, who now had a look of sheerest terror. There were even tears running down those proud cheeks. "I thought about killing you," Rand said, "or severing you, but lucky for you, I have a terribly foolish bias against killing women. Of course, you might not think it's all that lucky after the Wise Ones have had you for a while."

Elaida strained against her bonds, trying to talk, trying to gesture. Rand released just enough of the bonds to let her speak.

"You have no idea what a huge mistake you're making! The whole Tower is going to come after you to rescue me!"

"The Tower won't come after you. They'll be happy to have you gone." Rand wasn't actually sure of that, but he suspected. Hopefully, at the least, it would upset Elaida to hear it. _Burn me, I'm being petty about this_. But his time in the box....

Face reddening, Elaida proclaimed, "I am still Amyrlin. I can command the Tower to follow you. I can have sisters kneel at your feet. Please, let me make the Tower give you the glory due to the Dragon Reborn!"

"Glory?" He stepped close to her, intentionally using his height to look down at her. "You mean like the _glory_ your delegation showed me as they tried to _escort_ me back to the Tower? Shall I show you some of the same kind of _glory?_ " He realized he was shouting by the end of that.

Blood drained from Elaida's face. "I did not expect them to mistreat you so severely. That was not my--"

"Lies. You ordered it." And he could see in her eyes he was right.

"You know by the Three Oaths I cannot lie--"

"That's enough." He restored Elaida's gag.

Rand made a gateway to the Aiel camp outside Caemlyn, taking only Elaida and a handful of _Asha'man_. As soon as he showed his face, an escort of Maidens sprung up around them, materializing as if from the ground. He sent one to fetch the Wise Ones. A few minutes later, the Maiden returned with Amys and Sorilea. Perfect.

Rand gestured to his prisoner. "This is Elaida a'Roihan, who set herself up as Amyrlin Seat of the White Tower by deposing Siuan Sanche, causing the Tower to split." _Lock her in a box. Make sure you find one that she just barely fits in, so she can't move at all while she's inside. Oh, and leave the box in the sun all day, so it gets as warm as possible. Beatings at sun up and sun down. Make sure to use good heavy whips of air and don't hold back._ No. He couldn't give those orders, even for Elaida. Instead he told them, "You know what her delegation did to me. She was the one who ultimately gave the order. Treat her appropriately." They would not be kind, but now it was only in accordance with Aiel ways.

They nodded and he turned the shield over to Amys. Sorilea just smiled, but not with mirth. Rand would not want to be on the bad end of that smile - as Elaida was about to be. As soon as the bonds of Air were released, Elaida started screaming objections again. Amys gestured to the Maidens, who bound and gagged Elaida. The woman wasn't even willing to walk under her own power; instead, the Maidens dragged her off by the scruff of her neck as she kicked and flailed, still trying to scream through her gag.

Rand thrashed, near panic. He could hardly move his arms and legs. He was bound again--

No, not bound. He was tangled in his sheets. That earlier part had been a dream, and now he was awake. Awake and in his bedchamber in Cairhien.

Channeling briefly, he lit all the lamps in the room and, shaking, loosed himself from his bedding. Light, what was becoming of him? He was the Dragon Reborn, supposed to defend the world from the Dark One, and right now he was getting defeated by dreams and sheets. At least the dream was better than most he'd had since Dumai's Wells.


End file.
